I’ll have the usual: how restaurant brand image, loyalty, and satisfaction keep customers coming back
| Published date | 17 September 2018 |
| Date | 17 September 2018 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-10-2017-1610 |
| Pages | 599-614 |
| Author | Jennifer A. Espinosa,David J. Ortinau,Nina Krey,Lisa Monahan |
| Subject Matter | Marketing,Product management,Brand management/equity |
I’ll have the usual: how restaurant brand image,
loyalty, and satisfaction keep customers
coming back
Jennifer A. Espinosa
Department of Marketing and Business Information Systems, Rowan University, Glassboro, New Jersey, USA
David J. Ortinau
Department of Marketing, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA
Nina Krey
Department of Marketing and Business Information Systems, Rowan University, Glassboro, New Jersey, USA, and
Lisa Monahan
Department of Marketing, Meredith College, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to study how repeat customers utilize their established overall restaurant brand image (ORBI),
overall restaurant loyalty, satisfaction and behavioral intentions (revisit, recommend) to reengage with a casual-dining restaurant brand.
Design/methodology/approach –The study design consists of a mixed-methods, two-phase research approach that includes both qualitative and
quantitative data. First, focus groups and in-depth interviews with adult customers reveal pre liminary insights on restaurant dining patterns and
familiarity with franchised casual dining restaurants. Second, an online self-administered survey tests the influence of ORBI on repeat customers’
overall restaurant loyalty, satisfaction and behavioral intentions.
Findings –For repeat customers, ORBI positively predicts loyalty and satisfaction. Loyalty and satisfaction mediate the relationship between ORBI
and intentions to recommend, while loyalty alone mediates the relationship between ORBI and intentions to revisit a casual dining restaurant.
Practical implications –Managers looking to stimulate recommendation intentions can increase ORBI, loyalty or satisfaction among repeat
customers; or choose some combination of these three predictors. To improve revisit intentions, manage rs should first increase loyalty, followed by
ORBI. Importantly, management needs to tailor information given to repeat customers differently than other customers.
Originality/value –This paper provides a first conceptualization of how both loyalty and satisfaction jointly mediate the relationships between
ORBI and two behavioral intentions (revisit, recommend). The results show that loyalty plays a significant role in these predictive relationships and is
more important than satisfaction for enhancing intentions to revisit a restaurant.
Keywords Brand management, Satisfaction, Brands, Brand image, Brand loyalty
Paper type Research paper
In 2017, the restaurant industry in the USA produced
approximately $800bn in revenue, with sales in the table
service category of restaurants (which includes casual dining,
fine dining and famil y dining restauran ts) reaching abou t
$260bn (National Restaurant Association, 2017). Among the
different types of restaurants making up the US restaurant
industry, casual s it-down dining (C D) restaurants are
establishments that serve moderately priced food and
alcohol, with tabl es served by a waiter in a l aid-back
environment (e.g. Applebee’s, Chili’s, Red Lobster; Mealy,
2016). Historically, CD restaurant executives and experts
have relied on a restau rant brand’s image and loyal custome r
base to keep their brands profitable and successful (Dick and
Basu, 1994;Dobini and Zinkhan, 1990;Faircloth et al.,
2001;Jin, 2015). Recently, CD res taurants have bee n
struggling to match the annual growth of restaurants in the
quick service categ ory (National Restaurant Association,
2017;Taylor, 2017b). The stagnation of sales growth in CD
restaurants raise s the question of whe ther maintainin g a
restaurant’s brand image and building customer loyalty are
still effective strategies to encourage repeat customers to
reengage with the restaurant brand?
Traditionally, CD restaurant managers implement strategic
actions, such as adding craft beers to their drink menu, to
enhance the overall image of their restaurant brand (Taylor,
2017a). In the literature, overall restaurant brand images
(ORBIs) represent customers’positive or negative global
mental impressions of a restaurant brand (Hartmanand Spiro,
2005;Lai et al., 2009;Ortinau and Babin, 2007). Repeat
customers’(defined as consumers who have first-hand
consumption experience with a focal restaurant brand; for
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on
Emerald Insight at: www.emeraldinsight.com/1061-0421.htm
Journal of Product & Brand Management
27/6 (2018) 599–614
© Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 1061-0421]
[DOI 10.1108/JPBM-10-2017-1610]
599
example, returningcustomers) ORBIs often remain impervious
to strategic actions taken by brand managers, which can
negatively impact restaurant sales and foot traffic(Dixon,
2016). The difficulty customers have noticing subtle
differences between similarCD restaurantbrands is one reason
why management actions do not always translate into updated
ORBIs (Jones, 2017). While brand managers take actions to
enhance the uniqueness of their restaurant’s brand, these
actions will only be effective in improving market position,
market share and overall market performance if customers
subsequently modify their ORBI accordingly (Park et al.,
1986). As the CD segmentof the restaurant industry continues
to increase in competitiveness,differentiation from competitors
becomes critical. Managers that understand how repeat
customers think about and use their ORBIs to make dining
decisions will be able to take strategic actions to boost
customers’behavioral intentions and subsequent behaviors
that will lead to sustainable growth in sales and restaurant
profitability (Dixon,2016;Han et al., 2016;Morgan and Rego,
2006;Taylor,2017a).
How do repeat CD restaurant customers use their
established ORBIs to make choices about dining behaviors?
Ryu et al.’s (2008) work in the quick-casualrestaurant segment
offers initial insight and shows that customers’ORBIs and
satisfaction together influence their behavioral intentions.
Outside of the restaurant context, Souiden and Pons’(2009)
research on the brand image of automobile manufacturers
offers evidence that customers’brand imageand loyalty jointly
determine their likelihood of repurchasingthe brand. Although
Souiden and Pons (2009) assessbrand images in the context of
automobile companies, the findings resonate with restaurant
executives’beliefs about the importance of customer loyalty to
a brand’s survival (Jin, 2015).While these prior studies provide
preliminary insights on how repeat customers use ORBIs to
make dining choices, to fully understand the role of ORBI,
brand loyalty and satisfaction in repeat customer decision-
making, all three constructs need to be studied in tandem.
Therefore, the primary purpose of the current research is to
explore how ORBI together with brand loyaltyand satisfaction
influence repeat customers’behavioral intentions to reengage
with a CD restaurant brand. Thepresent study focuses on two
main research questions:
RQ1. How do repeat customers’ORBI, overall restaurant
loyalty and overall restaurant satisfaction influence
their behavioral intentions to reengage with a CD
restaurant brand?
RQ2. How do the roles of ORBI, overall restaurant loyalty
and overall restaurant satisfaction change, if at all,
between differenttypes of behavioral intentions?
CD restaurant managers can use the answers to these research
questions to more effectivelymanage repeat customers’ORBIs,
loyalty and satisfaction and behavioral intentions to maintain
revenues and market share amidst strong competition within
the industry.
The present resear ch is unique from existing literat ure and
contributes in sev eral important way s. First, both overa ll
restaurant loyalt y and overall restaur ant satisfaction pl ay
important roles in th e relationships bet ween ORBI and
behavioral intentions. Thus, the current research extends
previous work by int egrating custome r loyalty with customer
satisfaction as imp ortant mediators of t he ORBI-behavio ral
intentions relati onships and confirms overall brand loyalty’s
applicability to th e restaurant indus try (Ryu et al.,2008;
Souiden and Pons, 2009). Second, the study investigates two
different behavioral intentions applicable to CD restaurant
customers –recommending and revisiting a restaurant. By
studying two behav ioral intention s concurrently, r ather than
a global or single behavioral intention, the present research
shows that ORBI, cus tomers’overall restaurant loyalty and
overall restaura nt satisfaction pl ay differentiall y important
roles in shaping rep eat customers’intentions to reengage with
a restaurant brand depending on the type of intention.
Third, the context of the article focuses on repeat customers
exclusively, who have established ORBIs through direct
consumption experiences. In contrast, much of the literature
investigates how first-time customers (defined as consumers
with perceptualknowledge of a focal restaurant brand, not first-
hand consumption experience; for example, new customers,
non-customers) initiallybuild ORBIs based on their restaurant
brand perceptions (Ha and Jang, 2010;Liu and Jang, 2009;
Ryu et al.,2012). Once repeat customers establish ORBIs, the
antecedents typically used to construct ORBIs (e.g. customer
loyalty, customer satisfaction; Engel et al., 2006)flip and
become outcomes of ORBI. Thus, defining the target
population of the current research as repeat customers best
matches restaurant managements’interest in maintaining loyal
customer bases (Dixon, 2016). Finally, the study utilizes real
CD restaurant brands (e.g. Applebee’s, Chili’s) rather than
fictitious brands while requiring all subjects to be familiar and
experienced with the focal restaurant brands. This screening
requirement enhances the quality of the data in testing the
hypothesized relational linkages between the key constructs of
interest.
The remainder of the article unfolds as follows: the next
section discusses ORBI and other key constructs important
to the conceptual framework and introduces the proposed
hypotheses. The methodology section presents the mixed-
method, two-phase research design executed to collect the
necessary data and the empirical results of the hypotheses
tests. The article closes with a discussion of the findings,
contributions, managerial implications and limitations of
the current research, as well as suggestions for future
research.
Conceptual background
Overall restaurant brand image
CD restaurant environments contain numerous features that
customers evaluate and use to describe a restaurant’s overall
brand image (ORBI). In the currentstudy, ORBI is defined as a
repeat customer’s global mental impression of a restaurant
brand, typically expressed in a positive or negative light (e.g.
“Target is an inviting, clean storethat offers me a fun shopping
experience;”Hartman and Spiro, 2005;Lai et al.,2009;
Ortinau and Babin, 2007).Some restaurant features customers
evaluate are tangible, such as restaurant location, parking
availability, breadth of menu offerings, lighting and music
(Baker et al.,2002;Broniarczyk et al., 1998). Other intangible
I’ll have the usual
Jennifer A. Espinosa, David J. Ortinau, Nina Krey and Lisa Monahan
Journal of Product & Brand Management
Volume 27 · Number 6 · 2018 · 599–614
600
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